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Tuesday (4/17) night Michael and I went to a preview of a new Broadway musical. The event was sponsored by the UCSD Alumni Association.
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Before the show we were treated to a discussion with the shows costume designer - Judith Dolan, Ph.D. Not only is Judith a Tony winning costumer designer, she is an Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at UCSD.
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We learned the process of how she develops the ideas for the costumes, the cost of the costumes, and how she balances her ideas with those of the director. Did you know the average Broadway costume costs about $3,000? And that doesn't include wigs or shoes. She had a budget of $100,000 for 100 costumes - that is $1,000 a costume. She managed to get very creative with her costumes, sourcing items from costume shops to eBay to thrift stores (and apparently they even took a few old costumes out of the theatre basement). Finally the director gave her an extra $100,000 - but it wasn't all put towards the clothes, the total budget of $200,000 included the wigs, shoes, and accessories.
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It was fun to watch for certain costumes during the show. She explained some tricky timing to certain costume changes and how she would use simple things like coats or glasses to change a costume subtly from one scene to another. She spent two years creating the costumes for the show - from when she first received the script to the Broadway debut. Because the show was still in previews, they were making changes to the story. Even that day they made a big story change during the rehearsal. Apparently they will make changes until about 4 days before the official Broadway opening, at that point they lock the story down and let the actors and stage crew get comfortable before opening night. We also were able to see her design sketches and fabric swatches from the actual costumes.
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The USCD Alumni Association put out a great spread of appetizers and there was a large group from San Diego. They couldn't have been friendlier - it was fun to hear their impressions of NYC.
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The musical itself was interesting. I would not have seen the show if it the Alumni Association did put on this special event. It was long and the characters had German accents that made it hard to follow the dialogue. The story is based on the lives of a famous composer (Kurt Weill) and his muse who was also an actress (Lotte Lenya). If I had been more familiar with their work I think I would have found the story more interesting. I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't recommend seeing the show, unless you are familiar with the work of Weill and Lenya already.
